BankUnited Inc. (BKU) Trading Up 2.9%

BankUnited Inc. (NYSE:BKU) shares were up 2.9% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $32.48 and last traded at $32.46, with a volume of 647,993 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $31.55.

Several research analysts have commented on BKU shares. Deutsche Bank AG raised shares of BankUnited from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $38.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 12th. Sandler O’Neill raised shares of BankUnited from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 29th. Bank of America Corp. reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of BankUnited in a report on Monday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BankUnited in a report on Saturday, July 9th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of BankUnited from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $37.05.

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $31.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.25. The company has a market cap of $3.38 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43.

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BankUnited Inc. will post $2.14 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 13th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%.

Several hedge funds recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in BankUnited by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,849,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,766,000 after buying an additional 590,803 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in BankUnited during the fourth quarter worth approximately $21,177,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in BankUnited by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,363,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $85,238,000 after buying an additional 135,542 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in BankUnited by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 850,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,667,000 after buying an additional 90,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Azimuth Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in BankUnited by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Azimuth Capital Management LLC now owns 223,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,068,000 after buying an additional 70,940 shares in the last quarter.

BankUnited, Inc is the bank holding company of BankUnited, National Association (the Bank). The Bank provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers through approximately 100 branches. The Company offers a range of lending products, including small business loans, commercial real estate loans, equipment loans and leases, term loans, formula-based loans, municipal loans and leases, commercial lines of credit, letters of credit and consumer loans.